Robin Davie missing

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ridgy

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Lifted from the GGR facebook page:

"SERIOUS CONCERN BUILDING for experienced solo sailor Robin Davie REPORTED OVERDUE on a 300 mile Voyage from Les Sables d'Olonne to Falmouth, Cornwall. He departed at approx. 1000hrs on Saturday 5th January and nothing has been heard since. He was reported officially overdue on Wednesday morning by his brother RICK DAVIE. UK Maritime Coastguard Falmouth have been broadcasting Alerts to all shipping since then. No EPIRB signal has been detected. Weather conditions have been light to Mild. Robin has sailed solo three times around the world, is very experienced and was sailing his Rustler 36 C'EST La VIE which had recently undergone a complete refit including fitting a new mast and rigging in Les Sables over the past two months. He was returning home to Cornwall. He had entered the 2022 Golden Globe Race. #GGR2018"

Those following the GGR will have enjoyed the musings of Don and Robin over the last few months.
Troubling since he would be within VHF range the whole time. Hopefully he's sat in a french bar with his phone turned off.
 
Very worrying news. A lovely guy I met in Falmouth last summer. For latest updates go the the FB page for the GGR. He is a close friend of Don MacIntyre who will relay any news.
 
Found safe and well, according to a Facebook post from the CG.

He had apparently taken a more westerly route due to weather, so was out of mobile phone and VHF range.
 
Frank Holden said:
Posted missing 'cos he was out of mobile phone range..... oh deary deary me..............
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That's not what actually happened though....

GOOD NEWS!! Just received a call from Robin Davie /s brother that Robin called in by VHF radio to a coast station...... . Robin had left instructions with his brother that If he had NOT made contact by Tuesday morning something must be wrong. His brother then raised his concerns with UK Falmouth Coast Guard on Wednesday morning and they were managing the situation. The family is very grateful for all they and the French MRCC have done. #GGR2018
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Great news, must have been such a worry to family and friends.

Tis a tricky one though offshore , I use a ham radio to update online position reports more cos some family would worry than a personal need to keep in touch out there single hwnded . Surprising just how often cruising boat passages average out near 100Nm per day, even then I'll add a good few days on to the estimated passage time. EPIRB is for announcing when you really really need some help.
 
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What looked very like his Rustler 36 all kitted out for long-distance racing motored up the Penryn River ten minutes ago towards Falmouth Marina or Rustler's yard..
 
john_morris_uk said:
No he wasn’t. He was posted ‘overdue’.

How long do you take to sail 300 miles? In any reasonable conditions that’s two days.

edit: and as GHA point out; 100 miles a day is often the norm.
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150 miles a day is perhaps rather ambitious in a heavy traditional boat with just 27 foot waterline length in light winds.
And whilst 100–120 miles might be usual with fair winds, if beating to windward in light winds in such a boat then the VMG to the destination could easily be 50 miles or so, even if distance run much longer. Not everybody (and especially prospective GGR racers) will engage diesel if wind from ahead.
 
dunedin said:
150 miles a day is perhaps rather ambitious in a heavy traditional boat with just 27 foot waterline length in light winds.
And whilst 100–120 miles might be usual with fair winds, if beating to windward in light winds in such a boat then the VMG to the destination could easily be 50 miles or so, even if distance run much longer. Not everybody (and especially prospective GGR racers) will engage diesel if wind from ahead.
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I’ve no argument with any of that. But in my defence I did say, “..in any reasonable conditions”. I don’t count best to windward as ‘reasonable’. I did a passage once where the first 1400 miles were to windward (and against the prevailing current and I didn’t think it was reasonable. :nonchalance: )
 
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dunedin said:
150 miles a day is perhaps rather ambitious in a heavy traditional boat with just 27 foot waterline length in light winds.
And whilst 100–120 miles might be usual with fair winds, if beating to windward in light winds in such a boat then the VMG to the destination could easily be 50 miles or so, even if distance run much longer. Not everybody (and especially prospective GGR racers) will engage diesel if wind from ahead.
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Indeed, according to the report on Yachts and Yachting, it does appear to be just a matter of light headwinds and tacking - “it appears that faced with very light head winds, Davie decided to take one long tack out into the Atlantic“.
Passagemaking for some is not all engine on to maintain 6 knots
 
dunedin said:
Indeed, according to the report on Yachts and Yachting, it does appear to be just a matter of light headwinds and tacking - “it appears that faced with very light head winds, Davie decided to take one long tack out into the Atlantic“.
Passagemaking for some is not all engine on to maintain 6 knots
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I know the GGR doesn't allow modern kit. But it would have had a yellow brick tracker and a sat phone.

If you give an ETA and aren't going to hit it, should you be carrying kit to provide an update? This could have resulted in multiple assets being deployed in a search...
 
He isn’t doing the GGR this time. He plans to do the 2022 one. Hence he isn’t constrained by what kit he has onboard
 
ShinyShoe said:
I know the GGR doesn't allow modern kit. But it would have had a yellow brick tracker and a sat phone.

If you give an ETA and aren't going to hit it, should you be carrying kit to provide an update? This could have resulted in multiple assets being deployed in a search...
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Even a Spot Tracker would give a position. Pretty inexpensive way to let people know where you are.
 
Hacker said:
He isn’t doing the GGR this time. He plans to do the 2022 one. Hence he isn’t constrained by what kit he has onboard
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Sorry that was kind of my point. He had planned to do it this year. So I understand he wouldn't have equipped the boat to have every mod con and electronic gadget. But my point was also that even in the race they are allowed some kit for safety purposes that didn't exist back in the day...

bbg said:
Even a Spot Tracker would give a position. Pretty inexpensive way to let people know where you are.
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Yip. I know I'm a tech gadget guy so likely to be biased. BUT if I'm telling my shore contact to report me overdue on Tuesday (not done till Wed BTW) I expect to have some means for him to know if I'm completely missing... If I wanted to train my mind for GGR, a spot tracker seems the best approach. If I wanted to survive till the GGR in 2022, I might go for AIS instead...

But if he is doing GGR in 2022 he will need a Sat Phone...

...but then...

Frank Holden said:
According to YM https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/alert-issued-overdue-british-solo-sailor-robin-davie-68556 he is/was carrying neither EPIRB nor AIS and only a hand held VHF...
'It is understood that Davie, who is from St Agnes in Cornwall, doesn’t have AIS or an EPIRB, and just a hand-held VHF radio. He does have a liferaft, complete with GPS and a spare VHF.'
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Oh FFS! 5W of handheld power at sea level. Perhaps not even on all the time as he'll be electrically restricting himself too. While I like the idea of just getting on the boat and drifting off where the wind goes and at the same time of saying I'm not going to carry a ton of safety kit - if I get into difficulty that will be my issue to solve...

But how much anguish must he have caused the family etc? Either tell them you will be gone and may be gone a longer time... or provide a way for them to know you are OK.
 
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